Places in the Heart **** (1984, Sally Field, Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, John Malkovich, Danny Glover) – Classic Movie Review 5126

Writer-director Robert Benton’s 1984 US Deep South drama was a triumph for both him and his star Sally Field, who won her second Best Actress Oscar for her typically spunky performance as Edna Spalding, the sheriff’s widow fighting to keep and run the family’s cotton farm in Thirties Texas.

Field’s two kids Frank and Possum (Yankton Hatten, Gennie James), an itinerant worker Moze (Danny Glover) and a blind lodger Mr Will (John Malkovich) help her in his battles against hard labour, a terrible storm and the Ku Klux Klan.

Director Benton turns in a typically lovingly crafted movie, with spot-on screenplay by him, glorious Nestor Almendros cinematography and superlative acting. Benton won an Oscar for his original screenplay based on his memories of growing up in Waxahachie, where the movie is set.

Also in the superb cast are Lindsay Crouse, Ed Harris, Amy Madigan, Lane Smith, Bert Remsen, Terry O’Quinn and Ray Baker.

Accepting her Oscar, Field foolishly told the Academy Awards: ‘This means you really like me!’ She previously won for Norma Rae (1979) and was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Lincoln (2012).

Field recalls: ‘Nothing ever fell in my lap. When I won an Emmy for Sybil, when I won an Oscar for Norma Rae, when I won an Oscar for Places in the Heart, it didn’t mean open the doors, the scripts are falling in. It never, ever happened for me like that.’

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5126

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